Reflecting diversification of consumer's tastes and ever-growing health consciousness of consumers, various tea beverages have been put on the market in recent years. As one of such tea beverages, there is instant tea that can be readily taken by simply placing it in a drinking vessel such as a cup and pouring hot water without needing to use a kyusu (Japanese teapot), teapot or the like.
Proposed instant teas include, for example, an instant tea soluble in cold water, which is obtained by concentrating and drying an extract solution extracted from a blend of black tea leaves and green tea leaves with hot water under 1 to 2 atm (Patent Document 1), an instant tea prepared by drying a tea extract solution obtained from steamed leaves prepared by heating fresh tea leaves with steam (Patent Document 2), and a tea bag for an iced tea beverage, which contains a mixture made up of from 30 to 95 wt % of tea leaves and from 5 to 70 wt % of dried soluble tea solids (Patent Document 3).
However, these conventional instant teas give a sensation of bitterness and astringency attributable to components intrinsic to tea, such as the non-polymer catechins and tannin. Also, any attempt to ingest the non-polymer catechins at high concentration leads to further increase bitterness and astringency thereof.
Proposed, therefore, as instant teas with reduced bitterness include, for example, a processed tea product with a processed tea, which contains (A) a purified green tea extract obtained by dissolving and extracting a green tea extract in a mixed solution of ethanol and water at a mass ratio of from 99/1 to 75/25 and (B) tea leaves at a solids mass ratio [(A)/(B)] of from 10/90 to 90/10, and which is sealed in a tea bag (Patent Document 4).    [Patent Document 1] JP-A-07-194303    [Patent Document 2] JP-A-10-304822    [Patent Document 3] JP-A-11-221018    [Patent Document 4] WO-A-2009/044559